Nintendo President Satoru Iwata has spoken to The Telegraph about all things Nintendo including the Wii U and the disappointing launch of the 3DS.

A must-read for any hardcore Nintendo fan, the interview provides a fascinating insight into the creative forces behind Nintendo’s upcoming console, the Nintendo Wii U, as well as the company’s reaction to the console war and the failure of the Nintendo 3DS.

One fascinating gem to emerge from the interview was that Nintendo at one point planned to scrap the second screen idea for the Wii U. The second screen, built directly into the Wii U GamePad, has become the console’s defining feature, and both Microsoft and Sony could arguably be said to be chasing this concept with their SmartGlass and Cross Controller technology respectively.

“Sometime during that final discussion we almost gave up on the idea of the additional screen.

“This was due to our concern over the expected high cost, it may not have been feasible to create this and sell it at a reasonable price point for the consumers.”

But Nintendo kept returning to the idea of the additional screen, and with costs figured out, eventually hit upon the idea of tying the secondary screen to the main TV.

“From that we discussed how we could use that additional screen,” says Iwata. “Like asymmetric gameplay and using it as a touchscreen device to change how people interact with a TV set. The touchscreen is just one foot away from you, so you can read small letters easier and input letters more easily. And then you have the big TV screen ten feet away, which has its own advantages, in that it can be viewed by many people simultaneously.”

The interview in its entirety can be found here – check it out!

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